Page 146 of Stormswept Colorado

The words of the message played out in my memory.You have no idea how beautiful you really are. I’ve always been your biggest fan.

“And the red daisies?” I asked.

“I picked an arrangement that had them. So you might guess it was me. I had this fantasy that when you finally saw me in Silver Ridge on one of your visits, you’d recognize me. You’d remember everything. You’d know, right then, how much you meant to me. But you didn’t.” He squeezed the gun, fingers going white. “Chief Landry brought you into the station after that street brawl, and I smiled at you, and you looked right through me.”

Dread seeped into my veins. “It wasn’t on purpose.”

“But it still hurt. That weekend, I sent flowers to the Last Refuge Inn using the wedding florist. No card that time. Picked another arrangement with daisies, and I thought that was message enough.” He rubbed his free hand against his navy pants, scowling. “Wanted you to know I wasn’t giving up. We were meant to be together.”

“But you’ve also been vandalizing houses around Hart County for months.”

“Because of thepressure,” he shouted.

I cringed, flattening myself against the wall.

“I was sitting around, waiting for you to come to Silver Ridge and notice me. I wantedsomeoneto notice me. Women would call 911, and I’d get to help them. Make them feel better. When I realized how many women around the county were alone all the time, I knew I had to do something. I didn’t ever hurt them. Just scared them, so they would know how dangerous it was to be all alone.”

Chills made me tremble. The innocent kid I’d once babysat was gone. Finn Mackie was truly twisted.

There was no reasoning with him. I had to get out of here.

“I heard about you and Chief Landry. You thought you had a stalker, and you turned tohimfor help. I heard him talking to you in his office at night when I passed by. Then he took off last weekend, and I knew in my gut he was going to see you in California. It wasn’t right. You were supposed to bemine.”

“You sent the flowers to my house in Malibu with Teller’s picture.”

“I was warning you!” Spit flew from his mouth. “He’s not good enough.”

So much of it was becoming clear to me. Paul’s stupid emails, calling himself Biggest Fan, just distracted us. It didn’t seem like Jarod even knew about the fake stalker emails.

“You broke into Piper’s house last night, didn’t you? Was that to draw Teller away? How did you even know I was in Silver Ridge? We told almost no one.”

“It was because of Seth Duncan. He lived next door to me. We were friends. But after you came to town last time and he got to meet you, he acted obsessed with you. Always looking at your social media and going on about your music. Joined one of your fan groups online. It was embarrassing.”

Did he even hear how he sounded? Obviously not. If he’d held on to his grip with reality for the last several months, it had to be broken now.

“Seth was good with computer stuff. He managed to set up access to the internal network for Silver Ridge PD at his house. He was able to look up the GPS trackers for department vehicles, and he tracked Chief Landry’s. Seth knew the chief had gone to the private airport, and then he saw when the chief’s vehicle headed back to Silver Ridge. There’s a dashboard cam installed. He caught a glimpse of you yesterday when you walked in front of the SUV. That’s how I knew for sure you were back in town.”

“You were wearing Officer Duncan’s uniform.”

Jarod shrugged. His rage had subsided again. “It was time for me to make my move. Seth didn’t deserve to know so much about you. He annoyed me too. Always sick all the time. I got rid of him during the night. Went and broke in at Piper’s place, so Chief Landry would go there to be with his sister. And I put on Seth’s uniform, took his police vehicle, and went to get you. I figured you’d come with me if you thought I was a police officer. If you thought Landry had sent me.”

“But Paul was already at my house.”

“You mean the record producer guy? I’d seen him in photos with you. Just another creep who wanted to hurt you. I was happy to get rid of him for you. All those other men just want to use you. I’m the only one who really loves you, Ayla. The only one who really knows you.”

Jarod stood up from the bench. Started toward me.

“Don’t,” I said.

“You and I belong together. We’ll hide out here, and then we can run away. Like you did before, but the two of us together this time. This is how it was always supposed to be. You and me.” He held out the hand that wasn’t holding the gun.

“But I don’t want this, Jarod.” This was my last, desperate hope that somehow he’d listen. “I want to decide my future for myself. Please let me go.”

Anger flared in his eyes. He had no intention of ever setting me free.

He took another step toward me.

With a scream, I lunged at him. Grabbed for the wrist holding his gun and pushed it up to aim at the ceiling, while I slammed my knee hard into his groin. The gun went off. Using all my weight, I shoved Jarod back against the stand holding the dumbbells. He flew backward, his head hitting the edge of the washing machine.

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